Malkin Holdings, which operates and maintains the 2.85 million square-foot office building has announced it will buy 100 percent of its power from a wind farm owned by Green Mountain Energy Company.
“It was a natural fit for us to combine 100 percent clean energy with our nearly completed, groundbreaking energy efficiency retrofit work,” said Anthony E. Malkin, President of Malkin Holdings, which runs the building, said in the announcement.
“Clean energy and our nearly 40% reduced consumption of watts and BTUs gives us a competitive advantage in attracting the best credit tenants at the best rents,” he said.
The two-year contract for 55 million kWh of renewable energy annually will prevent nearly 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the firm said.
Officials at Green Mountain Energy said that number is equal to the reduction that would be achieved if the lights were turned off in every house in New York State for a week or planting 150,000 trees.
The purchase is also more than double the amount of renewable power that any other commercial customer in New York City is currently buying
“We are extremely pleased that an icon like the world-famous Empire State Building made this important commitment to support renewable energy,” said Paul Thomas, CEO of Green Mountain Energy Company.“This announcement is historic for many reasons. In addition to being the largest commercial consumer of green power in New York City, the Empire State Building’s renewable power purchase is now the largest purchase in our company’s 13-year history,” he said. “This demonstrates that Green Mountain can serve all sizes of commercial customers with renewable energy at a price they can afford, and that going green doesn’t have to be a trade-off.”
As part of its green retrofit of the Empire State Building, Malkin Holdings has hired Serious Materials to remove, retrofit and replace each of its 6,514 double-hung, dual-pane windows. It's also adding insulation and other upgrades.
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